Best PlacesBadger, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Badger, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Badger ranks 15,280th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Badger
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Badger's strengths and weaknesses
Where Badger ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 142 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of towns
Where Badger ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Badger
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Badger home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,662, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Badger's effective rate of 0.92%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Badger
Badger's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Badger.
Who works in Badger, and how
Work in Badger centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Badger
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Badger.
What the weather is like in Badger, month by month
Badger sees roughly 142 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 17, with lows near 1. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 17° | 9° | 1° |
| April | 49° | 39° | 30° |
| July | 80° | 69° | 58° |
| October | 54° | 45° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Badger
The nearest airport, Thief River Falls Regional, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 299 miles away.
The best schools in and around Badger
Schools across Badger average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Roseau ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Badger ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Greenbush ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Badger SecondaryB · 47% proficient
- Greenbush-middle River SecondaryB− · 43% proficient
- Roseau SecondaryB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Badger school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Badger measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Badger against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Badger
Is Badger a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Badger ranks 15,280th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, heat safety, and the weather, and lowest on distance from a big city and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Badger expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,067. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $77,662 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Badger safe?
Yes, Badger is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $200 per resident a year.
Compare Badger with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Badger. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Badger represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Badger detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Badger: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Badger: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Badger: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Badger: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Badger detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.